Help with first batch

I finally got some supplies and until I have more time to read up on all this and on which kit to get I wanted to make a quick batch of the Welch's white Niagra and was looking at Jack Keller's recipe.


He says to "Add additional water to make one gallon and pour into secondary." Why the secondary and what should I use? I bought a 2 gallon plastic bucket and lid from a restaraunt supply shop and was going to use that as a primary then when it came time to rack I would use a 1 gallon glass jug. Do I have this wrong?


Wouldnt primary fermentation take place in a primary and then rack it over to the jug which would be the "carboy?"

Pllease post his recipe.

It might be talking about topping it off when transfering to the seconday after primary fermentation.

Yes you will need more than 1 gallon for the primary.

Primary fermentation always works better in a bucket. Be careful with his recipes and slowly add sugar and keep checking the sg as his recipes are notorious for being way to high. Work your way up to a starting sg of 1.085 max. on most fruit wines and concentrate wines.

So when working up to the starting sg do I dissolve additional sugar in water or how do I add the sugar? Straight in and stir till it dissolves?


I guess you can make a super strong simple syrup to add in.

I usually add all the water that the recipe calls for except a certain amount and dissolve all the sugar in that amount and add to the must until you get the desired sg and if you still have some left over go back and forth with water and the mix to keep the sg the same. A ad over or under on the sg wont matter.

Thanks for the replies, I went ahead and gave it a shot considering if it fails, which I doubt it will, Im out about $6.00 total.


Sanatized everyting, boiled the water and sugar, added the 2 cans of juice and mixed. Put into the bucket along with the water to a gallon. The sg was 1.103 corrected for 84 degrees. Added a bit more water till the corrected sg was 1.101, high but close enough for this go around. Letting it sit on the counter till the am then will pitch the yeast and let her rip.


It was a pretty cool trial...when my wife was leaving I told her I was going to make it and she looked at me like I was nuts. She is used to homebrewing and was thinking it was going to take hours...but with a 3 & 5 year old it took about an hour for what could have been done in a half.


Ive not even been here a week and have to thank everyone already.

That is going to be fire water! Oh well, its yours and not mine!

I monkeyed around with this for a while because it seemed high and after adding water again and again I knew something was wrong. I double checked my old thermometer from homebrewing against a Thermapen and it was way off.


My actual starting gravity is 1.098...still high but I'll go nuts trying to adjust 1 gallon of must to a certain hundreths of a point.

pierce652 said:

I monkeyed around with this for a while because it seemed high and after adding water again and again I knew something was wrong. I double checked my old thermometer from homebrewing against a Thermapen and it was way off.


My actual starting gravity is 1.098...still high but I'll go nuts trying to adjust 1 gallon of must to a certain hundreths of a point.

Click to expand...

Pierce,
Download this http://www.geocities.com/mipeman/winecalc.html
Just put the #'s in and the quanity and will do the work for you.
I use it.

Funny Tepe, I have that program and always forget about it.

Thanks wade...Im saving that to the iphone. You motivated me to keep at it and the sg is now 1.086. Im just praying I didnt contaminate anything by all the thieving to test samples.


I will pitch the yeast tomorrow.

It's a great program and makes adding sugar so easy. Sometimes we just need to "jog" your/our mind.

Sorry tepe, didnt realize it was you posting the program...Im used to bugging wade and him being kind enough to answer my questions.


I definately needed my mind jogged tonight. I was going nuts trying to zero in...from beer making I knew I was high and would pay for it later.


Thanks again.

You will be much happier with that sg. It would take a long time for the abv of what you had before to tame down and it would still hide quite a bit of flavor that way and I feared you would be disappointed in it and thats not a good feeling especially with the 1st batch. The only downfall at this point is that by adding all of that sugar up front and then adding water back it might be a bit thin on flavor now. You might want to consider adding another can or 2 of concentrate. This is why I was so adimant on watching the sg while making it. It wouldnt be a bad thing to make the extra anyway as you will need some to top off later after racking off the sediment.

I would consider adding another can of concentrate but then Id be fighting for the sg again. I think I will leave as is and see what happens. If its thin then it will be good for the wife on a hot summers day. Its cheap enough to make another batch for the practice.


One thing I didnt do, because of eagerness, is wait 12 hours to pitch the yeast. I waited 6 hours then added the packet. I dont know if this will have any ill effect, I dont think so since the only other stuff added was acid blend, pectic enzyme adn yeast nutrient.


There are small bubbles on the surface this morning and a nice yeasty/wine fermentation smell in that corner of the kitchen. The temp is below 70 so Im figuring on it taking a bit longer to ramp up to speed.

Back to your original question.....
When making one gallon batches with just juice(no fruit), I usually start them in the jug("secondary"). I only fiil up to just below the neck so it has the maximum surface area and has room for foaming. Cover with a paper towel, secured with a rubber band. May wanna put in sink or something just in case it overflows. After it settles down, I rack to another jug and top off and put on air-lock.